Wilt Chamberlain's top two known sprints on a basketball court - speed calculated:

[CavaliersFTW]

Calculated using the precise time it takes Wilt's body (specifically, the pelvis) to travel across the 12 foot half-court circle:

Colorado NCAA game sprint (2nd fastest known recording of him sprinting):
.410 seconds (slowed down 10 times and analyzed frame by frame = 4.10 seconds)

SFU NCAA game sprint (fastest known recording of him sprinting):
.401 seconds (slowed down 10 times and analyzed frame by frame = 4.01 seconds)

440 units of "12 feet" in a mile.
440 x .510 = 180.40 seconds to cover 1 mile = 19.96mph peak speed at Colorado game sprint.
440 x .401 = 176.44 seconds to cover 1 mile = 20.4mph peak speed at SFU game sprint.

http://youtu.be/1TG146Vgd38

Here's video I rendered of him crossing the lines. There is a precisely 1 second freeze frame the moment he is above the first half of the circle so you all can see it, followed by a 2 second freeze frame the moment when he crosses above the lines on the other end of the circle in each clip so you all can see it. The footage in between both freeze frames is slowed down precisely 10 times. So that the number of seconds it takes to cover the ground (12 feet) would simply require the decimal to be moved over to calculate what fraction of a second it took Wilt to cover a 12 foot distance which was then used to calculate his speed. I hope everyone follows. I'm posting all this data so that it can be analyzed openly for objective critics.

Here is a screen capture of what I described I did with the video:

In this screen capture you can see in the upper right corner the number "5:01" which represents 5.01 seconds which is where the red line on the video bar is standing - which is at the end frame of the SFU sprint across 12 feet. Subtract the 1 second of buffer freeze frame and there you have your "precise" 4.01 measurement. You can also see the footage in between is at precisely "10%".

**EDIT** Added time-code to the video.

[inclinerator]

doesnt matter if it's a sped up video

[luckylucy]

You seem to focus a lot on Wilt's pelvis

[CavaliersFTW]

You seem to focus a lot on Wilt's pelvis

lol no homo - it's the only part of him that is stable while he's running - you can't really go by his hands and feet cause they go back and forth and his head could be moving around a bit too so that wouldn't be accurate to use

[deja vu]

The effort these Wilt stans do to prove that Wilt was a god among men.

[luckylucy]

lol no homo - it's the only part of him that is stable while he's running - you can't really go by his hands and feet cause they go back and forth and his head could be moving around a bit too so that wouldn't be accurate to use

You could have just omitted that part, I mean I don't think anyone would've asked you about what part of the body you where using to start and stop the time count. It felt a little bit awkward to read that.

[kennethgriffin]

allot of old retro videos are either sped up or slowed down for some reason. they were never in real time

OP wasted a possible 176.44 hours of his time typing 20.4 mph making this poop

[CavaliersFTW]

You could have just omitted that part, I mean I don't think anyone would've asked you about what part of the body you where using to start and stop the time count. It felt a little bit awkward to read that.

Pelvis is not an awkward word, it's just anatomy. And I did need to specify because people aren't mind readers and this required specific attention to detail to come up with such precise numbers. If I don't explain how I came up with the numbers thoroughly than there will be open questions and invitations for premature criticisms because I'm sure if I didn't specify exactly what was tracked and why, people would have started looking at the frames and wondering why I didn't use his feet or his head crossing the line.

[CavaliersFTW]

allot of old retro videos are either sped up or slowed down for some reason. they were never in real time

OP wasted a possible 176.44 hours of his time typing 20.4 mph making this poop

Yes a lot of Old Winek Film documentaries used slow-motion for dramatic effect in their 1960's and 1970's NBA basketball documentaries. Good thing these aren't basketball documentaries by Winek, these are just stock film reels from KU that weren't filmed in any sort of slow-motion or "fast"-motion... P.S. I've never seen stock archive basketball film like this played back in "fast" motion. If you have, feel free to post it, otherwise it's an empty accusation

[CavaliersFTW]

The effort these Wilt stans do to prove that Wilt was a god among men.

Yes because no man has ever ran 20.4mph before

[sundizz]

Could you calculate Lebron's speed from this clip?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNaLIhzSYDI

[CavaliersFTW]

Could you calculate Lebron's speed from this clip?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNaLIhzSYDI

Unfortunately no, because he arcs while he runs - find a clip of him running very fast down the middle of the court if you can, preferably on a court with a 12 foot circle (not all of the NBA floors have one) that way I can get his PEAK speed rather than his average speed over a longer span which would probably be lower due to him accelerating or decelerating. For example, Wilt's "average" speed on the sprint during his SFU game from top of the key on one side of the floor to the other top of the key on the other side of the floor was only 18.4mph because he was accelerating and decelerating.

[CavaliersFTW]

Using the same method, David Robinson is traveling at precisely 19.07 mph over the same center circle in this clip and he's got the ball in his hands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKVqpXl3M18

[Harison]

Good job CavaliersFTW

BTW I think Tony Parker had the same top speed, extremely quick.

P.S. 19.07 mph by Robinson with a ball is even more impressive

[jongib369]

Using the same method, David Robinson is traveling at precisely 19.07 mph over the same center circle in this clip and he's got the ball in his hands

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKVqpXl3M18

How do you move that fast with the ball when you're that big!?